Cynthia Tally McDonald died unexpectedly on November 30, 2019, two
days after a Thanksgiving full of nurturing and love spent with
family.

Cynthia is survived by her children Margaret (Meg) van der Stucken
McDonald, David Tally McDonald, Amy Louise McDonald [Valdez, Phong],
and grandchildren Spencer and Mason McDonald, Aria and Nicolas
McDonald Valdez, and Joshua and David Phong. She was preceded in death
by her parents Lt. Col. Fred Obediah Tally of Council Grove, Kansas
and Margaret Elizabeth Maier Tally Fricke of Fredericksburg, Texas, by
her husband David Spencer McDonald of Houston, Texas, and by her
sister Mary (Mima) Margaret Tally Ferguson and brother-in-law Mead
Ferguson of Woodward, Oklahoma.

Cynthia was born to Margaret and Fred Tally in Salt Lake City, Utah,
where the family was stationed following Army transfers. In October
1941, Lieutenant Colonel Fred Tally (USMA '28) received orders to
return to The Philippines. Before Cynthia's birth the family had been
stationed in Manila, Philippine Islands, and her sister Mary had been
born there when Fred was a Captain. When Fred was deployed in 1941,
Margaret moved the girls back to her hometown of Fredericksburg,
Texas, a hometown founded by her German family and rich in support.
Fred did not return, and Margaret did not recover from losing her
soulmate. She ensured that he was alive at all times in the hearts and
minds of the Tally girls. Cynthia loved listening to her sister Mima,
who was four years older, tell her stories of remembering daddy
holding baby Cynthia.   

Cynthia grew up in Fredericksburg, Texas and was presented to society
in 1960 in Dallas and at the Debutante Assembly and New Year's Ball in
New York. She attended early Fredericksburg schools, and spent summers
at Kickapoo Kamp for Girls in Kerrville, Texas starting at age four,
until she went to The Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas where she
graduated as president of her class. She graduated from Mount Holyoke
College in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1963, with a Bachelor of
Arts in Philosophy. After a summer traveling through Europe with
friends she moved to New York City for graduate school at Teachers
College, Columbia University. She began dating David McDonald, who she
had met years before through her cousin James Bartlett at a University
of Texas football game in Austin. David completed his MBA at Columbia
University as a Harriman Scholar and worked for IBM. While in New York
Cynthia worked in the public relations department of Steuben Glass
where she enjoyed writing the copy for each of the items in their
print catalogues, and studied at The New School for Social Research
(NSSR). Cynthia and David were married in Fredericksburg, Texas in
October 1964. They resided in New York City and on Long Island. In
late 1968, she, David, and baby Meg moved temporarily to Washington,
DC on the way to relocate to Houston, Texas, David's hometown. They
resided in Piney Point Village and David founded the first of several
successful companies.

Cynthia was a dedicated mother, which included being caregiver to
countless family pets of all kinds that she and three children brought
home over the decades. She had a quick wit and enjoyed birding,
gardening, pickling the abundance of cucumbers born of her green
thumb, writing poetry, and working as a volunteer docent at the
Houston Museum of Fine Arts' Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens where
she gave tours and shared the history of the Hogg Estate and its
gardens and antiques. She was an avid art, antique, and rug collector
and spent considerable hours with David at Sotheby's and Christie's
auctions building their prize collection of Audubon prints, Indian
artifacts, and other art and antiques. She was passionate about music,
loved travel, and would regularly laugh to tears with giggling
wide-eyed children while listening to the silly Dr. Demento radio show
on Sunday evenings during family road trips.

She was a lifelong supporter of various historical foundations in
Fredericksburg, and was a member of the Daughters of the Republic of
Texas and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was
wonderfully creative and artistic, most notably in homemade birthday
cakes, hand painted decorations for school dances and events
(including recreating a poster of the KISS rock group!), and inventive
Halloween costumes that won many prizes in church costume contests,
such as Meg as Queen Nefertiti, David as Saint George, and Amy as The
Dragon.

She utilized her Teacher's College, Columbia University education to
help her children in their studies and was always available for
practice with flash cards or to teach the benefits and fun of mnemonic
devices. She later continued her studies at the University of Houston
where she pursued a degree in theology. After David's sudden death in  
October 1987, she managed his companies and served on the board of the
Houston Opera. In retirement she agreed to raise two of her
grandchildren, Aria and Nicolas, which was a difficult journey that
she deeply treasured.

Cynthia enjoyed many hobbies, one of which was genealogical research
on family, especially her father. Fred and Margaret had met at a ball
at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas while he was stationed there.
He was a West Point graduate and career military man with the Army Air
Corps / Forces. He died on December 15, 1944 in Subic Bay as a POW on
the Oryoku Maru after surviving the Bataan Death March. His framed
Purple Heart, and letter from the President, held a place of honor in
our home. Cynthia did extensive family research in the Texas Hill
Country and in Galveston. In retirement she joined online groups for
WWII POWs and contacted people for stories of Fred. Incredibly, she
found some who remembered him. She communicated with them and the sons
and daughters of POWs who asked their fathers if they remembered him.
One recalled Fred's final moment on the Oryoku Maru. Her work was
rewarding, and she reveled in finding positive references to him in
books.

Fredericksburg always held a special place in her heart. She was a
devoted daughter to her mother Margaret who remained in Fredericksburg
until she passed from this world in October 1987. Cynthia was an
accomplished pianist, and starting at a young age she played the piano
for weekly services at Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in the original
charming, tiny Texas limestone and log chapel. Cynthia loved visiting
and tending to family gravestones dating back to the 1800s. She
generously shared stories of family history. Favorites were her sister
Mary presenting the key to the city of Fredericksburg to cousin Fleet
Admiral Chester Nimitz; dancing with her cousin King Baudouin of
Belgium (who accepted her invitation to experience the Hockaday senior
prom while visiting Dallas - he and his entourage surprised her by
arriving unannounced); participating in the annual Fredericksburg
Easter Fire Pageant, and one special year when Mary played the prized
role of the Easter Bunny in the Pageant.

She and David bought a historic home across the street from the Nimitz
Museum (now called The National Museum of the Pacific War) as a family
weekend home and spent years lovingly restoring and furnishing it with
Texas Hill Country antiques and decor.

In 2012 Cynthia was diagnosed with dementia, and daughter Meg moved
full-time to Houston to help care for her, and Aria and Nicolas. In
2013, after a diagnosis of bilateral breast cancer, she chose
extensive surgery and treatment to try to be here as long as possible
for her beloved grandchildren and children.

While dementia presented
difficulties, her last seven years were the happiest of her life. The
cognitive changes of dementia held unexpected blessings for her and
for us. She was active, loved, and cared for. She remembered everyone,
forgot far less than expected, and was increasingly peaceful, happy,
talkative, loving, and empathetic. She loved traveling to Galveston
and New Orleans for special events. She kept her sense of humor and
frequently and appropriately would burst into happy song. She was very  
cute in her surprising, enthusiastic enjoyment of the Guns 'N Roses
song "Paradise City" every time it played on the car radio, including
playing drums to it. She lived and thrived.